Water-only schools
Schools that have moved to being water only have seen that it benefits teaching and learning as well as student health and wellbeing.
Pātiki and Waharua Kōpito patterns
On this page
Childhood years are when lifelong food and drink habits are established. Schools and early childhood education (ECE) services have the opportunity to create a culture of healthy eating where children are supported to develop lifelong preferences that will help them grow into healthy adults.
Schools and ECE services are important role models for their communities and have an influence well beyond their students and their families.
Health NZ Public Health supports ECE services and schools to promote water and milk as the preferred drinks for children.
Drinks with high sugar content
Drinks that are often very high in sugar include the following types.
- Soft drinks
- Fizzy drinks
- Sports drinks
- Energy drinks
- Fruit drinks
- Powdered drinks
- Cordials
- Flavoured milks
- Flavoured waters
- Iced teas and coffees
- Smoothies
Natural fruit juice, even without added sugar, may have high sugar content similar to a fizzy drink.
Sugary drinks are high in sugar and calories but typically have little or no nutritional benefit.
Sugary drinks are less likely to trigger feelings of fullness, making it easier to take in more calories than we need without realising.
Guides and templates
School water kit
School water kit
Water-only schools policy template
Water-only schools policy template
Water-only schools grading scale checklist
Water-only schools grading scale checklist
Example water-only school letter to parents and caregivers
Example water-only school letter to parents and caregivers
Register as a water-only school
Register as a water-only school
Resources
How much sugar are children drinking?
How much sugar are children drinking?
Behind the hype: Sports drinks
Behind the hype: Sports drinks
Take care of your teeth
Take care of your teeth
Case studies
Brooklyn School
Brooklyn School
Going water-only, a school leads community change
Background
Brooklyn School is a full primary school (Years 0-8) situated up on the hill in the heart of Wellington. There are 462 children at the school. The school’s mission statement captures their approach to learning: Mauria Te Taki - Take Up the Challenge.
What they did
They took up the challenge of becoming a water-only school as part of their commitment to providing a safe and supportive learning environment and this has been achieved in a very positive way.
The first step was the school working with Healthy Futures Trust to turn the school gala water-only. They switched sugary drinks for ‘dressed up’ water. Beautiful jugs of water with fresh fruit and ice: strawberry and borage, orange and tangelo and lemon and mint. The water was free, refreshing, looked attractive, and the kids and adults loved it! The success led to setting up a ‘water kit’ that consists of large glass water dispensers on stands. Very quickly water became the new norm at school sport’s prize giving’s, discos and family events such as Matariki. The school’s lead quickly influenced the wider community with the local junior sports community and neighbouring schools borrowing the ‘water kit’.
The school principal and board of trustees were approached by a group of parents asking if they would consider adopting a water-only policy. They endorsed this as it “made official what we were already doing”.
The school have also installed new water fountains, purchased a ‘water kit’ and send gentle reminders out in newsletters prior to family events; "Note: We are a water-only school therefore no sugary drinks please."
The ‘water kit’ has been a key tool in the school’s approach to consistently and positively promoting water-only.
Ōtaki College Composite School
Ōtaki College Composite School
Ōtaki College healthy eating and drinking policy
Background
Ōtaki College is a low decile co-ed college with approximately 400 students.
The college started a healthy food policy seven years ago when the 'Fuelled 4 School' policy was introduced by the Labour Party. This policy has since been dropped by the current government.
Ōtaki College canteen is slightly different in that it is run by the school and the emphasis is not on profit. They currently break even generally. The college is a low decile school and hence the reason for not being profit orientated. They decided it was more important to their student’s health, more conducive to learning and have a positive impact on behaviour if they were providing wholesome affordable food to students who may not have had it otherwise.
What they did
Teachers, senior students and the canteen manager collaborated to decide on healthier options in the canteen. The success of this has been due to the following points:
- They listened to students and conducted surveys to find out what was popular.
- When unhealthy food was taken away they found it best to replace them with an alternative. For example, deep fried chips were removed but replaced with oven baked wedges.
- Healthier choices were placed at eye level and in prominent places. For example:
- chippies were placed behind and below the counter and bowls of fruit were put on the counter
- water was placed at eye level and in the most prominent place in the chiller, and
- fizzy's were removed and smaller serve-sized juice packs were put at the bottom of the chiller.
- Pies used to be offered every day but they now only have two pie days a week (pie consumption has dropped - they only sell approximately 12 pies instead of 40 on the pie days).
- The menu was changed with the seasons and made to look appetizing:
- toasted sandwiches/panini/soup in winter, and
- wraps/salads/sandwiches/sushi in summer.
- They took advantage of the Fonterra milk plan.
- The Heart Foundation funded breakfast and lunch activities where students were able to try new interesting foods for free. This encouraged them to later purchase these items.
- New foods were priced cheaply to encourage students to try new healthier options.
- Student led activities such as a sushi making day/healthy food posters competition raised education around food and nutrition.
- A voucher system was offered on healthy foods, e.g. buy four soups and get the fifth free.
- With New World supermarket supporting the healthy food policy they have reduced the amount of fizzy drinks being consumed. They used to see kids with big bottles of V, etc. They don't see that now.
Important points
Education and including students at every step were what the staff at Ōtaki wanted emphasised.
Randwick School
Randwick School
Randwick School supports brain hydration
Randwick School in Moera Lower Hutt is a decile 3 year 1-8 school focused on caring for others and achieving greatness. The school decided to become water-only last year, in 2016, as they wanted children to understand the benefits of brain hydration.
Water is the only drink on offer at Randwick School with many of the school’s children now having their own drink bottles in the classroom to hydrate regularly throughout the day. The school is now currently looking at a way to provide drink bottles to those children who do not have their own, to increase the ‘water’ message.
Each classroom has a sink for re-filling drink bottles and multiple water fountains available around the school. The school’s position is to promote water as the preferable drink of choice.
Teachers have taken up the challenge to be 'water-only' role models and regularly drink water in front of the children to highlight the importance of hydration. The school’s teachers have noticed better concentration and work habits from the students and a sense of responsibility for their own hydration.
Parents have commented very favourably on the water-only initiative and are extremely supportive of the school’s water-only message.
Seventh-day Adventist School
Seventh-day Adventist School
Seventh-day Adventist School embraces water-only
The school has seen a number of positive changes in students since introducing water-only messages at school. Seventh-day Adventist school principal, Karla Mitchell, says, “Our students are definitely drinking more water and we seldom see any other drinks at school. By limiting the quantity of sugar consumed at school, we have noticed that the students are more settled and focused on their work.”
The water-only initiative began earlier this year when the school decided to look at becoming water-only. The school approached their Health Promoting Schools Advisor, Siaosi Mafi for advice and support.
“We noticed many children coming to school with sugary drinks and we knew this was not beneficial for their teeth, their weight, their behaviour, or their learning,” says Karla.
To show our commitment to encouraging our students to drink more water, we kicked off by raising awareness on the health benefits of drinking water. With support from the Heart Foundation we set up a large display in our school foyer showing the amount of sugar in various types of drinks. We then asked parents to show their support by asking that children only drink water at school.
After that, we had a visit from Rowie Szeszeran-McEvoy of Max Fitness College, who came and taught the students five simple ways to be healthy. One of these was drinking more water. Regional Public Health donated drink bottles to each of the students and the school had water filters installed at the drinking fountains.
“Feedback from parents has been extremely positive. This is just the beginning for us. Along with the water-only initiative, we have also improved our fitness programme. Students can now exercise for longer period and are more active in the playground,” says Karla.
Another lesson the students have learnt from fitness coach Rowena was to ‘eat more stuff that comes out of the ground’. The school has recently begun its very own vegetable garden. Students have built the garden beds along with designing and constructing frames to keep pests out and planted a variety of vegetables. Next term students will harvest, cook and eat the vegetables they have grown.